Next-generation transportation startup Hyperloop Technologies Inc., aka Hyperloop One, is ambitiously taking on Elon Musk’s brainchild and turning it into a reality. With a successful demo of a revolutionary transportation pod on a test track completed earlier this year, the team has been leveraging the latest in agile methodologies to quickly develop prototypes and launch themselves into the limelight.

From a technology perspective, the Hyperloop One team is starting with a blank slate and has the freedom to incorporate the latest technologies without any boundaries, according to Chief Executive Officer Rob Lloyd (pictured). “High-speed networking is going to be a big deal for us, so we’ll probably need kind of an evolution of 5G. … We’re starting from scratch, so we have a clean sheet; we don’t have legacy to integrate,” he said.

Lloyd spoke with host Stu Miniman (@stu), host of theCube, SIliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Nutanix .NEXT conference in Nice, France. They discussed the incredible progress the Hyperloop One team has made in commercializing what some consider a moonshot project. (* Disclosure below.)

Agile development and commercialization

The team at Hyperloop One has made great strides forward in a relatively short amount of time, with a demo completed only three years after the company was founded. The team is moving fast by applying the same agile methodologies to the transportation industry that the tech world is accustomed to.

“It really hasn’t hit the traditional methods of transportation where people build in silos. They’re not closely associated with a fabricator or a welder. And we have mechanical engineers working with fabricators working with welders, and you make amazing progress when you see that happen,” Lloyd said.

Hyperloop One’s first full-scale deployment is rumored to be in the Middle East, where flat terrain and investments in infrastructure are in high supply. The company’s go-to-market strategy involves working directly with a government regulatory body for commercialization.

“We’re going to partner with the regulator while we’re designing the commercial version of our technology. So while we commercialize, which is the next two to three years of our roadmap, we know the tech works,” Lloyd stated.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Nutanix .NEXT EU. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the Nutanix .NEXT EU event. Neither Nutanix Inc., the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE